The present invention relates to musical instruments and, in particular, it concerns a wind instrument in which a pitch generated is varied in response to how hard a user blows.
It is known to provide electric wind instruments. Such instruments are often electric versions of corresponding acoustic instruments, where the pitch produced is defined primarily by fingering patterns or the position of a slide. A pressure transducer is sometimes used in instruments to provide a volume control, the volume being increased when the user blows harder. Such instruments require a great degree of skill to achieve a desired sequence of pitches corresponding to a desired melody.
In an attempt to make a musical instrument which is more intuitive to use, and which requires a much lower degree of skill and practice, U.S. Pat. No. 4,085,646 to Naumann, discloses an electronic musical instrument which simulates the operation of whistling. The breath pressure is used to define volume while pitch is defined by a measure of a mouth cavity size.
Although the Naumann device would apparently be intuitive to use without any special training, it suffers from serious limitations. Most notably, measurement of the mouth cavity size requires insertion of a sensor system within the mouth. This presents considerable practical complications and renders the device inconvenient and uncomfortable to use.
There is therefore a need for a musical wind instrument which would be intuitive to control, without requiring complex fingering patterns, but which would not require measurement of parameters within the mouth of the user. It would also be highly advantageous to provide a corresponding method for operating a musical wind instrument.
The present invention is a musical wind instrument and method for controlling such an instrument.
According to the teachings of the present invention there is provided, a musical wind instrument operable by a user to produce a sound, the instrument comprising: (a) a mouthpiece through which the user blows air; (b) a sensor associated with the mouthpiece and deployed to produce an output which varies as a function of how hard the user blows through the mouthpiece; and (c) a tone generator system electrically connected to the sensor and responsive to the output to generate an audible tone wherein a pitch of the audible tone varies as a function of the output, and hence as a function of how hard the user blows.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the mouthpiece is associated with a housing which defines an internal volume such that the user blows through the mouthpiece into the internal volume.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the housing further includes an outlet allowing restricted release of the air from the internal volume.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the outlet is implemented as a manually adjustable valve, the valve being openable to a fully open position to facilitate draining of condensed moisture from the internal volume.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the sensor is a pressure sensor deployed to produce an output which varies as a function of the air pressure within the internal volume.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the pressure sensor is a differential pressure sensor deployed to produce an output which varies as a function of the air pressure within the internal volume relative to ambient pressure.
According to a further feature of the present invention, a flexible membrane is deployed so as to prevent penetration of moisture from the internal volume to the pressure sensor.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the sensor is an air flow sensor.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the tone generator system varies the pitch as a substantially continuous function of the output.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the tone generator system varies the pitch between a number of discrete values corresponding to a predefined scale.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the tone generator system is configured to interrupt generation of the audible tone when the output falls below a predefined threshold value.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is also provided a volume control associated with the tone generator system and operative to vary a volume of the audible tone.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is also provided a pitch shift control associated with the tone generator system and operative to shift at least a lower limit of a range of frequencies within which the pitch varies.
According to a further feature of the present invention, there is also provided a sensitivity adjustment control associated with the tone generator system and operative to vary a breadth of a range of frequencies within which the pitch varies.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the tone generator system is implemented using analogue circuitry.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the tone generator system is implemented using a digital computer including a sound ystem, the sensor being connected to the digital computer via an analogue-to-digital converter.
There is also provided according to the teachings of the present invention, a method for controlling a musical wind instrument operated by blowing of a user, the method comprising: (a) measuring a parameter which varies as a continuous function of how hard the user blows; (b) converting the parameter according to a predefined relation into a corresponding frequency; and (c) generating an audible tone having a pitch equal to the corresponding frequency.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the parameter is an air pressure within a volume into which the user blows.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the parameter is a measure of air flow resulting from blowing of the user.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the predefined relation corresponds to a substantially continuous variation of frequency as a function of the parameter.
According to a further feature of the present invention, the predefined relation generates exclusively a number of discrete values of frequency corresponding to a predefined scale.
According to a further feature of the present invention, generation of the audible tone is interrupted when the parameter falls below a predefined threshold value.